VGS Verlag

VGS Verlag was a German publishing company which started out as a publisher of non-fiction books, but later branched out into fiction books, including several translated Star Trek titles.

Founded by Heinz Gollhardt in 1970 as Verlagsgesellschaft Schulfernsehen, the publisher specialized, as the name (which translated in "Publishing Company for School Television") already suggested, in the publication of print materials as accompaniment for school television educational programs aimed at the young on primary/secondary school level, attaining renown as such for the educational television series Hobbythek, which ran on German television during 1974-2004. Yet, in the late 1980s the publisher branched out into fiction books, befittingly including (translated) tie-in novelizations of television properties such as Beverly Hills, 90210, The X-Files and Star Trek with which the company enjoyed a considerable measure of success.

In 2001, the company ended its independent existence when it was acquired by the Danish publishing giant Egmont Group as the imprint Egmont VGS. Ultimately though, the imprint itself was phased out of existence in 2006 when its book-lines were broken up and distributed over the constituent parts of the Egmont Verlagsgesellschaften group. [1]

Contents

In the mid-1990s, VGS Verlag obtained a short-lived license to publish in German translated editions of Star Trek book titles, when it entered into a joint venture with the hitherto regular publisher for such works, Heyne Verlag. Somewhat unusually, the cooperation entailed that Heyne continued to publish the translated versions of the, predominantly Pocket Books, Star Treknovels as mass market pockets, whereas VGS was responsible for hardcover versions of those titles that were concurrently released as such originally. VGS also released a small line of translated, unauthorized Star Trek (softcover) reference books, which Heyne had no interest in publishing themselves, including two by authors Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross. The cooperation only lasted for a few years and ended when Heyne's interest to publish translated Star Trek reference works started to decline, the publication of these works taken over by relative newcomer Heel Verlag. Prior to losing its license, the company reprinted virtually all of its Star Trek titles it had hitherto published.